can I ask a stupid question about the apprentice?

What does sralun mean when he talks about a "corporate" environment? He seems to mention it in quite a disparaging way, and it was one of the reasons he fired James - that he had worked in a corporate environment and it wasn;t like that in his institution. I remember him saying it to a contestant last year as well. I just understood the word corporate to imply a large body of people, so why wouldn't it apply to sralun's organisation? Sorry for being thick!